Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Heathen Edition)

by Edwin Abbott Abbott

Overview

Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838-1926) was an English clergyman, schoolmaster, Shakespearean scholar, and theologian best known as the author of the 1884 satirical novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Written pseudonymously as "A Square," the book used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to parody the puritanical hierarchy and rigid stratification of Victorian culture, especially the low status of women.

An underground favorite since its publication, inspiring many novel sequels and films, the story's most enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions, which introduced aspects of relativity and hyperspace years before Einstein published his famous theories. An illuminating mathematical treatise, Flatland has experienced a revival in popularity, especially among sci-fi and cyberpunk fans, due to its sharp social satire and challenge to our most basic perceptions of everyday reality "that seems to have been written for today."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781963228045
Publisher:	Heathen Editions
Publication date:	02/20/2024
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

Table of Contents

Heathenry or: Concerning the text and its illustrations

Preface to the Second and Revised Edition, 1884.

PART ONE: this world.

1. Of the Nature of Flatland

2. Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland

3. Concerning the inhabitants of Flatland

4. Concerning the Women

5. Of our Methods of recognizing one another

6. Of Recognition by Sight

7. Concerning Irregular Figures

8. Of the Ancient Practice of Painting

9. Of the Universal Color Bill

10. Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition

11. Concerning our Priests

12. Of the Doctrine of our Priests

PART TWO: other worlds.

13. How I had a Vision of Lineland

14. How I vainly tried to explain the Nature of Flatland

15. Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland

16. How the Stranger Vainly Endeavored to Reveal to me in Words the Mysteries of Spaceland

17. How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds

18. How I came to Spaceland, and what I saw there

19. How, though the Sphere showed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it

20. How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision

21. How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what success

22. How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the result

Editorial Reviews

"A timeless classic of perennial fascination that seems to have been written for today. Like all great art, it defies the tyrant Time. Start it and you will fall under its spell." -Banesh Hoffmann

"This is a delirious book." -The New York Times

"Flatland has remained of interest for over a century precisely because of its ability to engage its readers on so many different planes in so many different dimensions." -Victorian Studies

"Instructive, entertaining, and stimulating to the imagination." -The Mathematics Teacher

"The incredulity of ignorance and the unreceptive attitude of the human mind toward new truth are painted to perfection. This story of surfaces and squares and cubes may well serve to shake out of their conceited complacency the whole race of dogmatists, whether they belong to the schools of philosophy, science, or religion." -The Literary World

"Never been equaled for clarity of thought." -The Nation

"To the great majority, Dr. Abbott's sphere penetrating Flatland points the way to the clearest imagery of the fourth dimension to which they are likely to attain." -William Garnett

"Flatland is not just an amusing and witty exercise in geometry, but is a dissertation that could lead to very profound thought about our Universe and ourselves." -Isaac Asimov

"This pre-Einstein geometrical fantasy is one of the best things of its kind that has ever been written." -Saturday Review of Literature

"Abbott pretends to be doing one thing, but is truly doing another. Too late you realize you have been entertained and taught-a-lesson, all in one." -Ray Bradbury

From the Publisher